Mediator Qatar briefs Trump envoy on Gaza truce talks
The HinduMediator Qatar said it briefed U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday about Gaza ceasefire talks it has been brokering alongside Egypt and the United States. In their meeting in Doha, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani discussed with Mr. Witkoff “the latest developments in the region, especially the efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” the Qatari foreign ministry said. But several analysts believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers a deal to be finalised under Trump’s presidency rather than in the final days of Joe Biden’s administration. “I cannot foresee significant progress until President Trump assumes office,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at an Israeli think tank, the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told AFP earlier this week.